Drat it: Is it spring yet?

Mar. 22, 2013

Written by

Features editor

I find I have three things on my mind of late: spring weather, fleece pants and physical fitness.

The first item is probably the most self-explanatory. Everyone’s tired of the cold weather, tired of the incessant snow and tired of reading about the North Atlantic oscillation in reporter Todd Hill’s weather blog. (Check it out at MansfieldNewsJournal.com if you’re not familiar.)

I drive home on roads covered with snow if I’m lucky, ice if I’m not; cook dinner and do chores; then walk the dog in snow if I’m lucky, rain if I’m not. (I now refuse to walk him in freezing rain. The last thing I need is a bad fall.)

When it’s finally time to sit down and relax for a while, I want to be warm.

For years now, I had been wanting fleece pants for just that purpose. Don’t ask me how it is that I had never owned a pair; I have no idea. Guess what I got for my birthday last month? I love my fleece pants. They’re so warm and comfortable.

It’s just that I didn’t expect to get so much use out of them yet this year.

On Wednesday, the first official day in spring, snow was falling and the News Journal had a photograph of tulips posted on its Facebook site. Accompanying the photo was a question: What do you like most about spring?

I don’t usually respond to such things, but something about those tulips got me.

“Green, growing things,” I wrote. “And the spring chorus!”

I heard that chorus of spring peepers once this year; they were silent again the next evening. I’m ready for that first warm night when I can open the windows and let them sing me to sleep.

I wasn’t the only one who commented, either. Here are some of the other responses:

• “Opening every window in my house and airing out the stale of winter!”

• “Reading the News Journal on the deck?” (I liked that comment.)

• “Just the hope that it will warm up soon and we will actually have a spring.”

Bring it on: I’m ready for all of it. I’m itching to get started on installing a new garden bed, too. This time, I intend to pay attention to all of the words of wisdom Richard Poffenbaugh has shared in his weekly “In the Garden” column over the decade or so that I’ve been his most faithful reader. (OK, as an editor, I get paid to read it — but still.)

If I get really ambitious, I may put in a new herb garden, too. I have one out in the back yard, but it’s become rather overgrown and we keep seeing a skunk near it. I suspect it’s living under the sage. I am not eager to find out for sure.

I have this glorious vision of working on my new garden on a sunny spring afternoon with my dog stretched out in the shade nearby and my 12-year-old daughter practicing archery where the old garden used to be.

I can’t wait.

My daughter is looking forward to it, too.

She’s the one heading up the Goble family’s big fitness kick this spring. She’s participating in Ashland County’s big “Crunch Out Obesity” campaign this year, and she’s taking it very seriously.

She’s exercising at least 20 minutes a day, trying to eat right and limiting herself to two hours of screen time a day.

I’m not sure who pitched this program at her school this year or what was said, but I’d like to hug that person.

Her exercise options are a lot more limited in bad weather, though. In the meantime, we’re having lots of cool discussions about making calories count and why she really needs to maintain these habits after the program ends.

It will be a lot easier once spring truly arrives and I can pack away those fleece pants.